Friday, January 20, 2006

farm manager



This young man is the manager at Garfield Farm. It's just a reminder that the country is not defined by picturesque barns and sweeping landscapes. People are the life blood of the countryside.

There seems to be a flood of people following in William Least Heat-Moons steps, traveling the country by car, bike or by foot. Jesse White Crow, another Indian is making the treck. His accounts can be read here:
White Crow Walking

AP writer Calvin Woodward discovered for himself the pulse of rural America when he travel by bicycle, riding from coast to coast in 88 days. I'm not sure if he had a preconceived notion of what he might find, but his conclusion was -
"Over three months on roads less traveled, I didn't hear America singing, as poet Walt Whitman did in his exuberant tribute to a rising nation.
I didn't hear it whining either, as cynics do today.
I saw America going about its business without fuss.
It waved from front porches, fixed up houses, talked about the day and times in little coffeehouses.
Grew field of soybeans and sunflowers, saw the sun come up and go down in the same sky each time, ran trains that thundered and wailed.
Downloaded gospel songs.
Dreamed."

Here's the entire story:
Road Less Traveled

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I love William Least Heat Moon's Blue HighWays. I too used to judge rural resteraunts by the number of local business calendars hanging on the wall.